The importance of unimpeded access to natural rubber has been acknowledged by the European Union, which has added the raw material to its Critical Raw Material List. the decision was made with the support of the European Tyre & Rubber Manufacturers’ Association (ETRMA), which contributed to the process of revising the List. The association has since welcomed the inclusion of natural rubber in the 2017 List, which is valid for three years.

Pirelli has named its 2017 Supplier Award winners. The winners came from three continents – Europe, Asia and America – and six countries (China, Italy, Germany, Japan, Romania, the United States, and Thailand).

Raw materials supplier Solvay has announced increased sales and profits in its second quarter 2017 results, with net sales of 3 billion euros (US$3.5 billion), up 11 per cent compared to the same period in 2016.

The Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company is using soubean-oil based rubber in the development of tyre products in conjunction with the United Soybean Board (USB). The USB is a group of farmer-directors who oversee the investments of a checkoff programme on behalf of all US soybean farmers. The USB provided some funding support for the development of Goodyear’s soybean oil application in tyres.

When we spoke to Lehigh Technologies’ Kedar Murthy in 2016, he commented that smart tyre makers were well aware that they wouldn’t enjoy bargain basement raw material prices forever. What none of us realised at the time was that we didn’t have long to wait before prices went through the roof. Although the cost of natural and synthetic rubber has now come back from the peaks we saw in the first few months of the year, they’re still sitting comfortably above 2016 levels. This is good news for micronised rubber powder (MRP) specialist Lehigh Technologies.

The Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences (SEAS) encourages us to “imagine a tyre that could heal after being punctured,” and a team from the school has done more than just imagine – according to SEAS, its researchers have “developed a new type of rubber that is as tough as natural rubber but can also self-heal.”

The 15th edition of the China International Tire Expo has opened at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition & Convention Center. Exhibitors at the show comprise a mix of growing tyre manufacturers from the Chinese market, international trading companies, wheel suppliers and others, while. In addition to Chinese industry players, Europe is represented by UK distributor Oak Tyres’ Davanti tyre brand, FM Tyres from the Netherlands, and Italian distributor Franco Gomme, while Singapore’s Stamford Tyres and Taiwan’s Nankang add to the international exhibitor base. The internationalism of the show is also reflected in the visitors arriving today from five continents.

Omsk Carbon, the Russian carbon black manufacturer, has announced that its new carbon black site will begin production in the second quarter of 2018 – a roughly 18-month delay compared to the original plan.

Japanese rubber products manufacturer Nitta has is to acquire the chemical and chemical and industrial products businesses of Toyo Tire and Rubber for 3.7 billion yen. The purchase does not include the now infamous seismic isolation rubber business.
Back in March Toyo Tire and Rubber said it was planning to sell its non-automotive operations and use the funds to strengthen its tyre business. Toyo Tire is expected to use the money from the sale to expand its tyre plant in Malaysia and invest in a US design centre set to open in 2018.

Cooper Tire & Rubber Company and its consortium partners have completed their five-year research project into the potential of guayule rubber as a replacement for Hevea natural rubber in tyres. A report on their work was recently presented at the public-private sector consortium’s wrap-up meeting held at the Cooper Tire & Vehicle Test Center near San Antonio, USA.

Balkrishna Industries, the firm behind BKT brand tyres, recently announced plans to build a 60,000 ton/year carbon black plant at its facility in Bhuj, Gujarat, India. No completion date was announced for the project that is estimated to cost roughly $23 million.

According to several German media sources, the price of Continental tyres will increase in the second half of this year. Wolfgang Schäfer, chief financial officer at Continental, indicates that tyre prices will go up by between three and five per cent in order to compensate for higher natural rubber costs.

Russian rubber and petrochemicals manufacturer Nizhnekamskneftekhim signed an agreement to provide synthetic rubber to Michelin during a meeting held in late June.
A delegation from the Russian company, including Vladimir Busygin, chairman of the board of directors and other senior officials, visited Michelin’s R&D center in Clermont-Ferrand, France to discuss the supply of new brands of synthetic rubber to the tyre maker.